Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 23, 1998

Play gives students look at how AIDS affects lives
By Ken White

Preparing the show "Quilt: A Musical Celebration" has been an educational experience for cast members. But they may have learned more about AIDS on a personal level than they bargained for.

Performed Wednesday through Sunday at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts theater by the Las Vegas International Performing Arts Exchange, a local nonprofit theater company, "Quilt" consists of 17 vignettes drawn from real stories about people with AIDS and their friends, family and lovers.

Plus, more than 100 panels from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, including 81 panels from Nevada, will be on display at the academy Thursday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Opening ceremonies will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. The project consists of 45,000 panels.

The show uses mock panels made by the cast along with two panels from the original quilt.

To prepare for "Quilt," director Pat Ellis and the cast of 24 submitted to an HIV test. "They went through the experience of waiting on the test results," Ellis says. Everyone's test was negative, Ellis adds, but waiting a week for the results put them in the shoes of the thousands who nervously wait to find out if they have the dreaded virus.

Working the show has changed the attitudes of many young people in the cast, Ellis says. "It has made any 17- or 18-year-old guy or girl who are sexually active more aware, and they pass that information on to people they know."

For Brian Dermondy, a 19-year-old University of Nevada, Las Vegas student, getting tested was a somewhat comical event in retrospect.

Dermondy, who was first in line for the test, hadn't eaten that day and passed out while blood was being drawn. To make matters worse, the nurse had left the vein open while attending to him and Dermondy bled profusely before it could be stopped.

His girlfriend also was tested. "I definitely had some nerves going," Dermondy says. "I never had prejudice against people with HIV, but I had a fear of AIDS because I was ignorant about it. This makes me more aware. I understand now because I'm portraying someone with AIDS."

Dermondy plays two characters in the musical: Timothy Bell, a flamboyant homosexual, and Charley, a straight man who's married but is dealing with his past, which includes physical abuse by his parents and an alcoholic mother.

The cast began working on the production in October, starting with a collective reading of the script. "There were tears, chills and goose bumps," Dermondy says. "It was powerful."

Part of the reason for doing the reading was for Ellis to get an idea of how receptive some cast members would be to playing homosexuals and to using the frank language in the script.

"It's kind of a controversial piece," Ellis says."We wanted to make sure the kids were comfortable with it. But they wanted to do this."

Heading the cast is Steve McMillan, a 32-year-old pharmacist who plays Wes, a character who runs a center where panels for an AIDS memorial quilt are taken.

Mary Ellis, 17, plays a girl who falls in love with a homosexual who has AIDS.

The show -- written by Jim Morgan, Merle Hubbard and John Schak with lyrics by Morgan and music by Michael Stockler -- includes stories that touch the many faces of AIDS. There's Paul, who kept his distance from his gay brother but tries to make up for it after his brother's death by helping another AIDS victim. There's Pauline, who refuses to accept her son's homosexuality and threatens a lawsuit if the quilt panel made by his lover is displayed. And there's Mrs. D'Angelo, whose son was beaten to death by homophobic thugs.

Tickets for "Quilt" are available through Aid For AIDS of Nevada at 382-2326 and at Ticketmaster outlets.

PREVIEW

What: "Quilt: A Musical Celebration"

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday; 3 p.m., 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts theater, Ninth Street and Clark Avenue

Tickets: $10